Description

Marathi, an official language of Maharashtra and Goa, is among the twenty most widely spoken languages in the world. The southernmost Indo-Aryan language, it is also spoken in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Daman and Diu, and is believed to be over 1,300 years old, with its origins in Sanskrit. First published in 1810, this dictionary of Marathi (then known as Mahratta) was compiled by the Baptist missionary William Carey (1761-1834). Written during his time in India, it aimed to help European visitors communicate for business and social purposes with native speakers of the language. Methodical in its approach, it gives concise meanings and labels the various parts of speech. Containing over 9,500 entries in Devanagari script with English translations, it remains of interest to historical linguists and language typologists. Carey's 1805 grammar of Marathi is also reissued in this series.